David A. Posner

Partner

Overview

David Posner's practice covers all aspects of employment litigation, including defense of clients in discrimination, wrongful discharge and retaliation cases, and in the enforcement and defense of noncompete and trade secret issues. David is a tenacious litigator and advocate who enmeshes himself with his clients, treating their goals and concerns as his own in order to most effectively and efficiently resolve their cases. His persistence and determination to win has resulted in long-lasting relationships between David and his clients.

David is certified as a Specialist in Employment and Labor Law by the Ohio State Bar Association. He has formerly served as the co-chair of BakerHostetler's national Noncompete and Trade Secrets team.

Select Experience

Represented the Cleveland Plain Dealer in a case involving the reassignment of the paper's former music critic, who claimed his reassignment was due to age discrimination and retaliation. The case represented a high-stakes challenge to the editorial control of the paper and its ability to assign reporters to stories. After a nearly four-week jury trial, the tenacity showed on behalf of the client against a difficult opposing counsel led to a directed verdict on the retaliation claim and a unanimous jury verdict on the age discrimination claim in favor of the client.

Handles wage and hour suits arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state law. In a recent case for a national insurance company, the deposition of the plaintiff tore the heart out of the plaintiff's case, leading to the favorable, early resolution of the lawsuit even before a motion for summary judgment had to be filed.

Represented an industry-leading financial services institution with branches throughout the Midwest on nonsolicitation matters. The representation enabled the institution to defend itself against a claim by a competitor financial institution of mass raiding of employees. The aggressive response to the claim resulted in the competitor dropping the accusations of wrongdoing.

Experience

Represented the Cleveland Plain Dealer in a case involving the reassignment of the paper's former music critic, who claimed his reassignment was due to age discrimination and retaliation. The case represented a high-stakes challenge to the editorial control of the paper and its ability to assign reporters to stories. After a nearly four-week jury trial, the tenacity showed on behalf of the client against a difficult opposing counsel led to a directed verdict on the retaliation claim and a unanimous jury verdict on the age discrimination claim in favor of the client.

Handles wage and hour suits arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act and state law. In a recent case for a national insurance company, the deposition of the plaintiff tore the heart out of the plaintiff's case, leading to the favorable, early resolution of the lawsuit even before a motion for summary judgment had to be filed.

Represented an industry-leading financial services institution with branches throughout the Midwest on nonsolicitation matters. The representation enabled the institution to defend itself against a claim by a competitor financial institution of mass raiding of employees. The aggressive response to the claim resulted in the competitor dropping the accusations of wrongdoing.

Represented a world-class financial services firm in defense of a raiding claim by citing the protocol for broker recruitment against a signatory firm, on behalf of a nonsignatory firm, establishing that the protocol rendered the plaintiff firm's position to be contrary to industry custom and practice and not violative of any trade secrets protection. This was the first such decision of its kind, and was the first decision issued by the court in which the matter was pending that did not enforce the restrictive covenant at issue against the departed employees.

Defended a major financial services and insurance firm in a suit over the enforceability of a noncompete agreement. The matter was settled shortly after suit was filed against the competitor firm and former employee, which resulted in a recovery of more than $100,000 for the client.

Represented a leading manufacturer of parts for the aerospace industry and an executive employee against a suit for permanent injunctive relief under the theory of inevitable disclosure of trade secrets, resulting in a favorable judgment on the merits and denial of injunctive relief.

Education

Blog

In The Blogs

Third Circuit Opinion Involving Uber Only Adds More Questions to the Dispute Over the Scope of the FAA Section 1 Residual Clause

September 13, 2019

Recent decisions have cast doubt on the enforcement of arbitration clauses in the context of the interstate transportation of goods, but will those limitations extend to the transportation of passengers? And what if the movement does not...

California’s Supreme Court has cut off an area of significant potential exposure for California employers by ruling that employees cannot recover unpaid wages on behalf of themselves and other aggrieved employees through California’s...

Ninth Circuit Reverses Itself and Finds That at Least Some ERISA Claims Can Be Compelled to Arbitration

By Gregory V. Mersol

August 23, 2019

But Do You Really Want To In All Cases? The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) was the largest statute ever passed by Congress at the time it was enacted and has only grown further since then. In the 44 years that...

In collective actions under the FLSA, courts typically apply a lower standard to the first “conditional certification” stage. In some cases, that might be warranted, but in many instances courts will undertake an unduly lenient review and...

Companies have the right to protect their trade secrets against public disclosure, while class action members (and the judges who must determine the fairness and adequacy of proposed class action settlements) have the right to know the...